3. Try growing a sweet potato just in water. Describe your experiment and observations.
Answer:
Aim: To grow a sweet potato just in water and note the observations.
Materials Required: Two glass jars, water, 4-5 toothpicks.
Procedure:
(i) Choose a sweet potato tuber with “eyes’ or “scars” on it and cut off a portion.
(ii) Insert the toothpicks around the middle of the potato to hold it in place in the jar.
(iii) Now fill the glass jar with water.
(iv) Now place the potato on the jar with the toothpicks resting on the rim of the glass. The cut side of the potato should face downwards and the lower portion should be submerged in water.
(v) Now place the jar in an area which gets lots of sunlight. Wait for a few weeks and observe the growth of shoot and roots.
(vi) After a few weeks cut off a newly formed stem and place it in another glass jar filled with water. The lower part of the stem should be submerged in water. Add fresh water once a day.
Observations:
- After a few weeks the sweet potato cutting starts growing new roots and shoots. They gradually grow bigger as shown in the figure below on the left.
- When a newly grown stem is submerged in another glass jar filled with water, new roots develop and a new plant grows as shown in the figure below on the right.
Conclusions: We conclude that a new sweet potato plant can be grown from an existing sweet potato tuber in water.
“Try growing a sweet potato just in water. Describe your experiment and observations.” – Solved.
Related Links:
Solution to Extended Learning Problem 1
Solution to Extended Learning Problem 2
Solution to Activity 1.1
Solution to Activity 1.2
